Sunday, December 25, 2011

Reflections of the season

As I sit here with my hands wrapped around a warm mug of spiced orange tea, watching the snow fall gently onto a blanket of white outside with the smell of Christmas cookies wafting through the house and my parents at the table with me laughing about the memories of the past year, I…..

Okay, fine. The above sentiment is stretching it a bit. To be fair I AM drinking tea, but doing so while looking out at a sea of dead brown grass--the first non-white Minnesota Christmas I can remember in a long time. My dad is sitting in the other room reading random news online and my mom is warming up leftovers for lunch. And I’m getting ready to put in a couple hours of work. Cue the Debbie Downer music….wha whaaaa.

But in reality, it’s not so bad.After thinking about where I was last year at this time—sitting at this same table unemployed—I’m grateful to HAVE a job. And it’s lovely to be back at home on vacation, rather than in a state of limbo wondering where I’m going to end up next. I’m happy that my family is lucky enough to have enough food to eat on Christmas day, let alone a surplus of yummy treats to be considered “leftovers.”And as far as my dad sitting on the couch reading about (get ready for this) “ion propulsion” for “satellites and stuff like that,” well, I’m just relived that I’m not the only one in the family who reads weird articles online for kicks. It’s turning out to be a Merry Christmas after all.

But enough reflection for the time-being—let’s get on to some projects! The below little headband I actually started early this year in MN at my favorite little knitting shop. It’s technically an ear-covering, but I wear it more as an accessory. Kim Ong made a beautiful one as well (and totally put me to shame by finishing it in a proper amount of time; read: anything less than 6 months). Hers has buttons but my button holes left a little to be desired, so I decided to close it with a broach—a decision which postponed the finished product another couple of weeks while I embarked on a broach search. In any case, I’m happy with it except for the fact that I put it on upside down for the picture so you can’t see the cabling. I’m too lazy to do a second take, hence the name “lazy winter headband.” Here’s the link for the pattern: http://www.plantsworld.net/maja/D__Lazy_Winter.pdf